


May I Cut In

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Series: Friends Make Life A Lot More Fun [11]
Category: Rent - Larson
Genre: Ballet, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Pointe Shoes, dance, fun stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 22:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9462878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: A moment of levity in the loft.December 1989





	

Mimi smiled as she sat down next to Angel and started lacing up her pointe shoes. If she was able to she probably would have replaced them long ago, but for what she needed they did their job quite well. The familiar pattern of criss-crossing ribbons returned to hwy quickly, despite the time she had spent away from it and she was soon tying a neat bow at the back of her calf

She smiled to herself, and wondered just how long it would take for Angel to wonder just what the hell she was up to.

Angel flipped another page in the banal celebrity magazine she'd snagged from the rec center after the last Life Support meeting, wondering why the hell she cared which number husband the latest singing sensation has divorced.

Mimi folded her arms and in her lap and glanced at Angel, she was ignoring her on purpose wasn't she? Shaking her head she took a hair tie and pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail, after that she cleared her throat in an attempt to get her best friend's attention.

Angel knew that Mimi was trying to get her attention and tried to hold back a smile when she cleared her throat, looking up languidly with a bored expression. "Do you need a lozenge?"

Mimi narrowed her gaze, "No, I'm fine," she replied rather stiffly before getting off the couch and walking over to semi-clear space of floor in the loft and started stretching. It felt good to do this again, to dance for fun and not for a job.

"You're too easy," Angel said with a chuckle, "So what brought this on? Old memories?" Standing, Angel moved to the center of the floor with her best friend, offering herself as a makeshift barre for Mimi to keep her balance while she stretched.

Mimi smiled as Angel helped her, "Okay maybe I'm a sucker for sentiment, so sue me." She replied as she continued to stretch, "You can't tell me you didn't miss this."

"Oh yes," Angel sighed, "Afternoons spent in you bedroom wearing tutus and tights. If my father knew about that, he'd blame you for me being the way I am." She stepped away as Mimi began to twirl across the floor, ponytail whipping around as she spun.

"What the?" Mark replied as he entered the loft, "I leave for a half an hour and come back to the Russian Ballet?" Mimi nearly fell over when Mark came in, she hadn't expected him to be  
back so soon, oh well he was just going to have to deal. "Film me, send it off to Julliard, maybe I'll get a scholarship," she called out to him.

Mark laughed and pulled out his camera, winding it as far as it could go and bringing it up to focus on Mimi, trying to get close enough to catch the blissfully joyous expression on her face. He nearly got a pointe shoe in the glasses for his troubles. 

"Watch it, you," he said, trying to sound stern even through his laughter.

"I am in my element," Mimi replied in haughty tone to the filmmaker, "you watch it," she teased and she continued to dance. "Angel, would you have this dance with me?"

Angel didn't hesitate, taking Mimi into a proper waltz hold, "Do you want to lead or shall I?"

"Take it away Mr. Astaire," Mimi giggled.

She knew that on more than one occasion when they were younger she and Angel had been caught staying up too late watching movies with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, attempting recreate their famous dance scenes.

Having gotten permission, Angel began a slow waltz, head held high and a haughty expression plastered on her face. 

"Quite good, quite good," she intoned in her best British accent, which was actually quite terrible, causing laughter from the other two, "A dip, Ms. Marquez?" Mark continued to circle around them, winding his camera every so often in order to get an uninterrupted shot.

"Well if you insist-" Mimi tried to get out but was too late as Angel guided her into a dip, her long hair barely brushing the hardwood floor. "Don't drop me!" she squeaked, "I'm a delicate little china doll!" Mimi laughed as she repeated the words one of her instructors had said about her all those years ago.

Mark kept finding that he needed to move in order to stay out of their way, and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do.

"Delicate little china doll, my fabulous ass," retorted Angel with a grin, loosening her hold slightly before gripping Mimi again, drawing a squeal from the other woman. Mark snorted, but quickly sobered when Mimi sent him a glare, giving a serious nod.

"Be nice, Angel." Angel exchanged a glance with Mimi and the two shared a silent conversation. They rose from their dip and Angel spun Mimi out, letting go of the dancer's hand and sweeping Mark into her arms instead, passing the camera off to Mimi as Mark protested. 

"Hey, what're you...stop it!" Mimi laughed, doing her best Mark impression with the camera, circling and filming.

"You're a real natural Marky!" Mimi smiled as Angel guided Mark, "you really need to loosen up every once in awhile, it's good for you!" 

She really hoped that the camera was still filming, this sight was too glorious to behold. Besides, it was something she was sure Roger just might tease him about for the rest of his life, but then again that was an ever growing list Mimi was slowly discovering.

"I'm having flashbacks!" Mark protested, "Nanette Himmelfarb flashbacks. I see my life flashing before my--ahh!" Mark cut himself off with a not particularly manly screech and Angel suddenly dropped him into a dip. 

Of course it was that moment that Roger and Collins came through the door, stopping as they took in the scene before them. 

"Hey babe!" Mimi bounded over to Roger, throwing her arms around him in a hug. 

"What the hell is going on here?" Roger asked as he looked over at Angel and Mark in confusion, "Mark, I didn't know you could dance-" 

"I don't," Mark sighed, as from his position his glasses were beginning to slip, "and I think all the blood is rushing to my head."

"Oops," Angel chuckled, "Sorry pumpkin." She pulled Mark up and released him. He cleared his throat and resettled his glasses on his nose.

"Where's my camera?" he grumbled. 

Roger held it up, "You mean this camera?" Mark's eyes widened and he rushed towards his friend, Roger held the camera up high out of Mark's reach, laughing. 

"Aw, come on Rog," Mark whined, sounding very much like a child, "My baby!" This was the problem, nearly all his life Roger had been considerable taller than Mark. Which meant he was prone to tricks like this being pulled on him on a regular basis. 

"You will never learn will you?" Roger scoffed as the filmmaker struggled to reach for his beloved camera. The height difference wasn't as drastic as it used to be but it was just enough to make this really difficult. He was still taller than Mimi, but it didn't take much to tower over the dancer. 

"Oh Roger be nice," Mimi walked up behind the musician and wrapped her skinny arms around him.

Roger thought for a moment and then grinned down at her, "Anything for you."

Mark huffed, but turned his camera on the now kissing couple, "Close on Roger and Mimi, so cute it makes us puke." He made a mock puking noise. 

"You're just jealous," Roger said between kisses, "Jealous and lonely." He sing-songed the last bit and received a joint smack on the arm from Mark and Mimi for his troubles.

"Ow," Roger complained, "what was that for?" 

"For being an ass," Mimi replied bluntly.

"What she said," Mark agreed blithely.

Roger rolled his eyes, and glanced at Mimi, "Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"All's fair in love and war," Angel interjected.

"You're so wise," Collins said with a grin, wrapping his arms around Ange from behind and planting a wet kiss on her cheek. Angel giggled.

Mark groaned, of course he had to be surrounded by couples. Being a third wheel (or in this case fifth wheel) sucked.

This made him think of Maureen and all the years he'd dedicated to her, which in turn made him think of Joanne. The two of them were just starting to kind of get along, but it was still strange considering the circumstances under which they had met their relationship being as good as it was was almost a miracle. 

Mimi broke away from Roger and glanced back at the filmmaker, "Hey, aren't you still going to film me for Julliard?" She then stood on pointe which brought her closer to Roger's height but he was still taller. The musician looked on with worry at the way she was standing, he was clearly very ill at ease.

"Watch it Meems," Roger looked at her feet, "don't hurt yourself..." 

"I won't, you didn't think I only ever danced at the Cat Scratch Club, did you?" Mimi lowered herself, "believe it or not I have years of training, and Angel here can attest to that."

"Years of being trained and training others," Angel replied dryly, executing a pirouette of her own.

"You've still got it," Mimi grinned at her friend, "although for having me teach you I know that you can do better than that."

"Arrogant much?" Mark scoffed.

"Oh sweetheart she's always been that way," Angel replied with a calm flick of her wrist. 

"Reminds me of someone else that I know," Mark gave a knowing look to Roger.

"What?" Roger looked taken aback, "oh come on you can't be serious."

"I can so, Mr. I'm-so-amazing-I'll-be-a-rock-star-after-my-first-gig," Mark retorted with a grin.

"Oh, that's it." In a flash, he had pinned Mark to the floor. He took the camera and passed it off to Mimi. 

"You think, you're ticklish? Watch this."

"No," Mark intoned warningly, "Don't you dare."

Roger dared.

Mimi watched in amusement, glad that this time she wasn't Roger's victim. Ever since he had discovered just how ticklish she was she felt that she always had to be on her guard and trying to prevent him from initiating a sneak attack. It did surprise her to discover just how ticklish Mark was.

Mark could barely breathe he was laughing so hard. Tears were rolling down his cheeks at the simplest touch of fingers to his side.

"R-roger stop! P-please!" Mark panted, he finally was able to get his hands on Rogers shoulders and pushed the musician off. 

"You know I would really hate to be on that floor," Collins muttered to Angel.

"True," Mimi nodded, "god knows what has happened there."

"No, I know what's happened there," Collins turned to the dancer, "trust me, you don't want to know."


End file.
